


Tail(s) of Friendship and Mischief

by Sky_King



Category: One Piece
Genre: Different First Meetings, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, He's weird enough even without them, Kitsune!Luffy, Kitsunegeddon, Kitsunegeddon 2019, Luffy Being Luffy, Luffy has several tails, Protective Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, Slightly altered first meetings, Zoro gives no shits, fluff? I guess, nobody cares, vaguely follows kitsune lore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-10-26 14:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20744087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sky_King/pseuds/Sky_King
Summary: Monkey D. Luffy is a kitsune-child who will adventure off into the Grand Line and become the Pirate King.And for that, he needs to find his crewmates. Which is easy, given that nearly nobody else can see his kitsune features.Some things are different, with a fire-breathing mythological creature aboard your wooden ship, but Luffy will always be Luffy and the Strawhats love him for it.





	1. Zoro

When Zoro saw him for the first time, he had been caught and tied up by the Marines, with no hope to receive food or water for the foreseeable future. He had been feverish and delirious by the time Luffy had decided to climb the fort’s walls, but he would have liked to say he was doing well, overall.

So when a face had popped up, with big, black eyes and a goofy grin– as well as furry fox ears being squashed down by a straw hat, and a bushy fox tail wiggling behind him– Zoro had been a little concerned.

But, he told himself, it was just his starved body playing a trick on him (probably). So he closed his eyes and tried ignoring the weird teen.

* * *

When Luffy inevitably sneaked inside the Marine’s backyard to untie him, a shit-eating grin on his expression, Zoro was too busy staring at the happily waving tail on his ass to bother protesting much.

But hey, this weird kid had two free hands, and no regards for life. He could help him make sure the little brave girl’s gift wouldn’t go to waste.

And he had thought he would refuse, or laugh at him for eating a splattered onigiri from the ground. But it had meant a lot for the kid, not to mention it would be a shame to let her bravery go to waste.

But Luffy had stared at him, obsidian black eyes gleaming, and looking far older than the sixteen years he claimed. For a second there, Zoro felt as if he was falling down the bottomless depth of them.

Before he had regained himself again, he had found himself free, staring up at a wide, wide grin, with sharp canines.

He tried standing his ground. He was thankful for feeding him the onigiri, and for wanting to set him free, but Zoro was _not _going to become a pirate.

“Why not? It’s going to be so much fun! And you’re perfect as my first mate!” Luffy had said, something feral in the way his fangs shone in the light.

“We don’t even know each other!” Zoro said, in all of his foolish ignorance. “Why can’t you just let me be already?”

Luffy crouched down, searching for something deep within Zoro’s eyes. As if he could stare at his soul.

“Because you have kindness in your eyes.” He said, solemnly. “Because you have a fire in your soul. _Because you belong_.”

Between one blink and the next, before he finished shivering at those heavy words, and after Luffy had turned around, tail aloft– Zoro found himself kneeling in a foreign place.

Belatedly, he realized they now were inside the Marine’s armory, and he could spot his precious katana lying on the ground like trash.

He retrieved them, pushing his fury down, down within him and focused on getting _the hell out of there._

Luffy just laughed, keeping up with him effortlessly.

* * *

So many things were happening at the same time, that Zoro didn’t get the chance to ask about his tail and ears before they’re being chased, before Luffy laughed and smiled and tempted him again with a life at sea, running away from Marines, stealing from thieves and living the good life.

When Zoro finally gave up, when he finally said he would join him, Luffy had grinned, wider than the entire world as a second tail unfurled from his behind, to join its twin’s excited wagging.

* * *

Zoro being Zoro didn’t bring it up in the end. He entirely forgot that having fox tails wasn’t exactly normal – the dude was a rubber man, and they had fought a man who could split his body at will, there were weirder things happening alright.

And he thought that this was just everyone’s reaction to them. They would see the extra appendages, shrug and carry on with their lives– just like he had done. So it was much to his surprise when he and Luffy are having dinner at a bar, when it came up.

“Tails? What are you talking about?” The bartender had asked him, with an arched eyebrow. Zoro paused in inhaling his food to stare dubiously at the man, before turning back to Luffy.

And yep, his tails were still wagging happily behind him as he ate.

As if sensing his confusion, the teen with fox features laughed, polished his food and turned to him, a milk moustache on his face.

“Yeah, you’re the second person that has ever seen them!”

He laughed and left.

Zoro stared at him, understanding that he had probably gotten himself the most bizarre crewmate in existence.

He couldn’t say he had a problem with that, however.


	2. Usopp

They met Nami by accident, and while she was flippant and rude, she continued staring at the twitchy tails on Luffy’s behind.

Zoro made no move to help her out, Luffy just smiled that uncanny smile, and Nami wisely decided not to ask any more questions than strictly necessary. She was a lot quicker than Zoro at figuring out they weren’t quite normal– or visible for that matter.

Despite how easy she fit into their three-man crew in their little mishap of a boat, when she finally agreed to join, there was no magical third tail popping into existence.

Zoro also noticed how Luffy smiled and welcomed her and accepted her words. Even as his eyes stared at her, an otherworldly quality to their obsidian shine.

* * *

In the privacy of their shared inn room, Zoro heard him sigh, and turn and toss in his bunk, and he had to ask.

“Is something wrong?”

“She’s not going to stay.”

“Nami?”

“Yeah.” Luffy stared at the ceiling, as if he could see the stars above. “She belongs though. She has to be one of us. But she can’t. Not yet.”

“You seem pretty sure about that.” Zoro said, eyebrows arched. He didn’t understand entirely what was going inside his captain’s head, but he was willing to learn.

“She belongs,” Luffy repeated, as if that was enough of an explanation.

And honestly, Zoro thought, thinking about the tails, the fox ears nobody seemed to be able to see, and the warmth in his chest at finding a place to belong–maybe it was.

* * *

With their makeshift partnership formally acknowledged, they meet Usopp.

The young man was anything but subtle, loudly asking about why he had tails, and getting nervous when nobody else seemed to be able to understand what he was talking about.

Luffy had laughed, happy, loud and had asked him to join his crew.

It had been a slow process, with Usopp being terrified of leaving his hometown, of leaving Kaya alone. Luffy had pouted. Hard.

He would follow Usopp along, alternating between grumbling under his breath, asking him to join and squawking alongside Usopp as they put out fires that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

(Usopp was mighty offended when Kaya found this amusing instead of aggravating, but he had to admit that there’s no way he could get angry at her beautiful smile.)

Kaya actually took the hint faster, despite not being able to see Luffy’s extra appendages.

“You’re a magical being, are you not?” She had asked him, one late evening, after Usopp had been annoyed into leaving. Probably because Luffy had just figured out who he smelled like and had told him. Repeatedly, insistently –perhaps even violently.

But hey, it was Shank’s crew, of course it was a big deal!

Luffy was snapped out of it by her laughter. She had a very pretty laugh. Pretty enough that the kitsune in him would have wanted to hoard it for himself and his nakama.

“Sorry!” He called out as he focused again, precariously balancing on the tree branch Usopp loved to sit at to talk to Kaya. The smile on his face was as wide as the world. “I am! What gave it away?”

Kaya just hummed to herself, a dainty hand to her cheek. “I am not sure. There’s just an air about you… that reminds me of the tales of magical creatures Usopp loves to tell me.”

“Ushishishi!” He laughed. “Hey, Kaya! You should convince him to join my crew! I also want to hear those stories! Maybe he might know a thing or two about my family!”

As they talked and laughed and let the evening go on, Kaya thought she maybe saw a shimmer in the air– like fluffy tails waving in excitement.

Luffy caught her eye with yet another wide grin of his. “Sunsets do funny things to our eyes, don’t they?”

Kaya laughed, a little breathlessly as she agreed.

* * *

It wasn’t long after, that Usopp finally gave up and decided to join them.

As they boarded their brand new ship together, Zoro noticed how another tail had been added to Luffy’s growing collection.

Zoro had smiled and patted them both on the shoulder, before going off to nap. Nami noticed the extra appendage as well, but decided against asking. Usopp just thought he had an eye problem, and dismissed the entire ordeal.

Luffy sat atop the Going Merry’s figurehead, looking out into the horizon, tails waving in the air, trembling in excitement, as he wondered what new adventure awaited them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usopp acquired!
> 
> lmao
> 
> These things are so fun to write. They were actually even shorter, but I think i like it better a little more fleshed out! 
> 
> How about you? Liking it so far?


	3. Fire

Luffy sat atop the Going Merry’s figurehead, looking out into the horizon, tails waving in the air, trembling in excitement, as he wondered what new adventure awaited them.

He breathed in long and hard, letting his spine curve with the strength of his lungs– breathing in that glorious sea salt air.

He was giddy, so giddy.

“Are you sure it’s okay for you to be up here? You can’t swim, can you?” Nami’s voice said out of nowhere, having successfully sneaked up on the kitsune child.

Luffy choked as he was exhaling, surprise making him fumble as he turned around to stare at her. He reached out his hands to grasp the handrail before he completely lost his balance– smacked his head against Nami’s shoulder and suddenly there was fire.

For a beat, there was silence as both pirates stared at the merrily crackling fire at their feet.

“…FIRE!” They both screamed, running in hysterical circles as they –both – tried figuring out what had happened and how to put it out.

Nami rushed out to get water, while Luffy kept screaming fire at the top of his lungs and trying to stomp it out to no avail.

She returned with a bucket of water, so full that it kept sloshing all over the floor as she ran. She skidded to a stop and dumped its contents on the crackling fire.

It sizzled, steam obscuring everything and both Nami and Luffy breathed sighs of relief.

“Where did the fire even come from?” Nami asked, resting the bucket on her hip as she surveyed the area. It just didn’t make any sense, there was nothing flammable nearby.

“Beats me, maybe some fire-breathing bird did it?” Luffy wondered, using a hand as a visor to squint at the sky.

Zoro, who had been placidly napping just a moment earlier finally made act of presence. He looked tired, grouchy and drenched in water as he stepped up to them.

“And what happened to you?” Nami asked as soon as she noticed him, completely nonchalant.

“Well I was just taking a nap, when _someone _tripped over me with a bucketful of water.” Zoro said, with his hands on his hips and a vein pulsing in his forehead. “I wonder who could have possibly not noticed me.”

“Shishishi, maybe you needed to take a bath!” Luffy laughed, his tails twirling with delight as he looked at his first mate.

Zoro was about to say what he thought about that when his face went absolutely deadpan.

“Were you planning on doing something about the fire?”

“Fire?” Both Nami and Luffy asked at the same time, their eyes meeting Zoro before falling to the ground.

And realizing that the happily crackling fire was still going on, as strong as before.

* * *

It took them several hours of panicked screaming, gallons upon gallons of every type of water they could think of (sea water, drinking water, and even a squirt of distilled water), and a conked out Luffy for the fire to finally go out.

“I think,” Nami huffed from her place in the wet floor, feeling the adrenaline finally leave her aching muscles. “I think this fire was Luffy’s fault.”

“When is anything not Luffy’s fault?” Usopp muttered, face-down on the floor beside her, distantly wondering if he couldn’t just drown in that puddle. “What do you mean? Like a magic fox fire or something?”

“I mean; he has fox tails. Isn’t there some sort of myth or…? I don’t know. I mean, it’s not normal is it?”

“Has Luffy ever been normal to you?” Zoro added sitting cross-legged in front of them, having put their unconscious captain to bed.

The other two were silent.

“No yeah, you’re right.” “What else did we expect?”

Nami sobbed or laughed out of exhaustion.

“He’s going to burn this ship to the ground. And the idiot can’t even swim.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so short omg.
> 
> Just a small interlude, because having a fire-breathing Luffy on board is bound to cause problems lmfao.
> 
> How have you been liking this story so far?

**Author's Note:**

> I love the mugiwaras and this has been so much fun to write so far! The chapters are going to be short, not sure if it could be described as vignette-style but we'll see. 
> 
> Don't forget to drop a comment! Happy kitsunegeddon!


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